Friday, October 30, 2009

Clarin Article Translation

Clarin did an article on public space issues and talked to PublicAdCampaign to get some pertinent info. We posted the article a while back but are now just posting the translation, done by a PublicAdCampaign reader, because it talks about the second NYSAT project upcoming before the event on October 25th.

To whomever did the translation, thank you....

I'll give this a shot...

The movement started in New York as a way to recover public space.

By: Maria Paula Bandera

For a long time art has found strength in cities. Walls, posters and doors are like a blank canvas for street artists, who have now found a new medium for displaying their art: public advertisements. Jordan Seiler is a New York artist who, through the web site Public Ad Campaign, organized a creative protest against the invasion of advertisements in the public sphere. The initiative, known as New York Street Advertising Take Over, mobilized close to 80 people, who, dressed as municipal workers, took to the streets of New York and hung their own art on hundreds of public advertisements. Seiler told Clarin "the second part will be coming soon."

"We're all conscious of the manipulation generated by advertisements. Often, we can avoid those messages by turning off the TV, turning the page of the magazine, or turning down the volume of the radio, while in public spaces there's no option. That's why it's necessary to stop the coercion that advertisements exercise in the street," says Seiler. For Seiler, the main targets are the illegal ads - those that don't pay the corresponding fees to the city. Perhaps that's why his art isn't destined to subvert the advertising messages but to "fight for the space that advertisements occupy in detriment to other forms of expression, like political messages or artistic interventions." His works emphasize the transformation of the meaning of advertisements. Street artists are accustomed to avoiding the police; however, when they jeopardize the interests of large companies the manner becomes more serious. Although Seiler has never been arrested, he has received various citations for displaying his art on public telephones.

Or something like that. Then it says some other stuff unrelated to Public Ad Campaign.